Municipal Election Day, October 25, 2010

It has been a fascinating 10 weeks and I wish to thank the wonderful electors of Ward 1 for their support and for their participation in this election process.

And best wishes and good luck to all Ajax candidates who chose to enter the local political arena.

Polling Stations open today at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

In Ward 1, they are located at:

• Vimy Ridge Public School at 40 Telford Street
• Alexander Graham Bell Public School at 25 Hawkins Drive
• Lincoln Alexander Public School at 95 Church Street

A polling station has also been created at the Winbourne Park Long-term Care Centre and will be open from 10 a.m. to noon.

If you are a senior or disabled and need transportation to and from a Polling Station, call me at 905-686-6180.

Think Pink – Vote Katie!

Shifting the Residential Tax Burden with Common Sense

It comes down to the policies, vision, character, community and life experience, credibility and ethics – and how convincingly an individual candidate introduces his or her platform to electors.

Are common sense ideas, a vision and a mission to do a good job in representing Ward 1 enough to prevail on Polling Day on Monday?

Does a progressive, family-protective, business-oriented and green argument fit with the needs and sentiments of Ward 1 constituents?

My platform has been clearly laid out – and, with some modest sense of flattery, can say emulated by others in terms of policies put forward.

With great respect to my opponents, what differentiates my campaign from theirs is my stated position to challenge decisions by Town Council I feel are financially and socially detrimental to Ward 1 residents.

And for the record, I am advocating reasonable ideas where savings can be made from operations – for example, an examination of the Town’s spending of a million dollars annually in legal fees – toward improving the Town’s balance sheet.

The prevailing notion on Town Council that residential taxpayers continue to shoulder 88% of the Town’s and the Region’s operating costs is a disservice to its citizens.

How about a 75% and 25% target for a start? - the latter portion coming from a gradual shift to new business settlement in Ajax.

Despite the federal government’s claim the recession is over, I’m not seeing ANY sign of improvements in the overall quality of life in our communities. Are you?

Perhaps the first step towards moving forward would be for Ward 1 to point Town Council in a new direction through its Councillor.

A Different Vision

The lack of a strong, credible mayoral candidate with a different vision for Ajax has left the door open to four more years of a social-economic imbalance electors are pointing to for immediate action.

While our mayor deserves much credit for his vision since assuming office, times have changed. And so have the challenges of meeting our communities’ needs.

The lack of a strong opposition – in Ajax’s case, a strong alternate voice on Town Council – leaves residents with few options for moving towards a different vision that meets today’s needs e.g.:

-         policies that lead to sustainable, local job development

-         a complete re-think (in cooperation with three levels of government) for de-bottlenecking rush-hour traffic

-         fast-tracking the environmentally-sound provincial programs for smart growth – building up instead of out

-         creating safer communities affordably where neighbours are encouraged to look out for each other, instead of looking the other way, and ultimately;

-         lessening the tax burden on homeowners by moving towards well-defined and aggressive policies that encourage more businesses to establish in Ajax.

In the absence of a credible, alternate vision, it falls on Town Councillors to introduce options and policies that introduce those changes that residents are demanding.

When only 23% of Ajacians turned out to vote in the 2006 municipal election, it signalled something was desperately wrong in the relationship between electors and their local government.

The virtual acclamation next Monday of our mayor should give voters pause to think about the consequences of this accession by default.

People I’ve spoken to in Ward 1 these past nine weeks tell me they’re looking for someone capable of representing their ambitions on Town Council. I promise to do just that.

Accessibility and Accountability

As someone who lives less than 10 minutes from my business office, I was overwhelmed early this morning by the sheer volume of Ward 1 residents making their way to the GO station or to the 401 to get to work.

It takes an hour from the Ajax GO station to downtown, and that commute is even longer for residents working in Brampton, Mississauga or destinations not serviced by GO train.

Two things came to mind:

Eighty percent of Ajacians commute to work. There is an immediate need for high-paying jobs in our community. We need to attract new business and industry here. And we can do that if our Town Council stops paying lip service to this issue and votes to make it happen, using tax holidays as incentives. It is a simple cost of doing business and the long-term dividends to Ajax would be worth it.

Secondly, if elected, I was wondering how I could manage a full-time job and a part-time job as a Town Councillor – a job that has full-time responsibilities – if my day job was a two-hour commute to and from Ajax.

Because my commute is only 10 minutes from home, I shall be available and accountable to Ward 1 electors on a full-time basis.

Greater representation needed at the Region

There is a question on this year’s ballot regarding the election of a Regional Council Chair or the selection of the Chair by Regional Councillors.

I’m wondering why a second question couldn’t have been added to give force to Ajax’s dire need for a third councillor on Regional Council.

If we’re to be taxed without equal representation, clearly, we should be making a lot more noise given that 57% of our municipal tax levy flows into Regional coffers.

Policing, transportation, recycling, social and infrastructural services are as important to Ajax as they are to residents of Pickering, Whitby and Uxbridge.

Its not a matter of where numbers warrant – we’ve got the numbers – it’s a matter of politics at the senior decision-making level of Regional Council.

Its time for those key decision-makers on Regional Council to grow up, put aside personal and grudges if necessary –and give Ajax residents the representation they’ve earned!.  We need to put an end to the divisive and petty nonsense that diminishes the stature and credibility of an otherwise fine institution.

Ward 1 Electors are looking for change!!!!

There are five candidates vying to represent Ward 1. Therefore, a selection of which candidate is best qualified to argue the case for Ward 1 residents on Town Council must come down to trust, financial leadership and the ability to represent the best interests of constituents. 

I have been listening to you for the last two months and I’ve been making my platform known to you.

To those Ward 1 residents I haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet, you might want to know that I am fiercely independent – if not strident, when it comes to the protection of our families, and that I am entirely independent of any "alliances or camps" which may or may not exist on Town Council.

During the next four years, if I am elected, I can promise this:

I shall not remain silent on your behalf if proposals are introduced to both Town Council and Regional Council if they appear to be detrimental to your family and to your financial interests.

Looking ahead, and looking at the state of the world around us, it makes no sense that our municipal government appears to be intent on perpetuating its fiscal policies that increase taxes each year instead of looking for economies from within.

Our Mayor, dismisses these kinds of overtures as part of an "anti-incumbent movement", but he offers no options, is a ‘late-comer’ to the notion of downtown re-development and has missed the boat entirely in terms of attracting job-creating, tax revenue-producing, clean industry that people of Ajax so desperately want from their local government. You need to find local jobs rather than drive to far side of Toronto to support your families!

Don’t get me wrong. Our Mayor has done an outstanding job in creating a wonderful place to live.

But the Mayor’s vision doesn’t reflect the vision that residents of Ward 1 have for Ajax!

With few exceptions, Ward 1 electors are looking for change – to bring some immediate balance that shifts some of the tax burden from the shoulders of residential taxpayers through a policy of rapid business expansion – even if that means closing deals with businesses via tax holidays as a means of attracting new, high-paying jobs to Ajax.

The social and financial benefits created by those jobs will have spinoff effects throughout our community – better transportation, higher residential housing prices and other consumer-driven investment.

Ultimately, it comes down to trust, financial leadership and the ability to represent the best interest of residents and their families in Ward 1.

WHO AM I?

Ten days from voting day and residents of Ward 1 appear to be more focused in their scrutiny of Town Council candidates.

A number of undecided electors have sent me their own questionnaires, some asking for specifics on my financial management, budgeting and business management background.

For the record, my professional background is in purchasing and financial management with a speciality in public sector purchasing & tendering for products, services and construction, including all related insurance and risk requirements. Recently, in the private sector, my speciality includes urban forest and construction project management on behalf of numerous municipal and private sector clients.

I have written public purchasing policy and procedures for three of Ontario’s largest school boards, a hospital and a town and have taught courses in the recovery of excise tax overpayments  – drawing them back into the public treasury.

Budgeting is one of my core financial strengths and I have an intimate understanding of budgetary structures – from inception to hierarchical spending, reporting requirements and audit.

I have written reports to Boards and Councils with recommendations for acceptance or rejection of tendered bids, based on price, references and overall value. I am also no stranger to recommending a project be postponed because of unacceptable costs, prevailing economic conditions and other contributing factors.

It was my job to ensure that adequate insurances (rather than over-insurance) requirements were attached to projects so that the costs related to a specific project would not include excessively high premiums built into the contract price.  It was my responsibility to ensure that certain matters of ‘due diligence’ was exercised prior to the award of ANY tendered bid.

Ultimately, I was the designated “gate keeper” to the formal contracting and purchasing functions for the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars. So, looking for “fat” in our Town’s operating budget is a priority in representing Ajax

One of my priorities will be to review our Town’s budget for 2011 and identify items of duplication or redundancy so that we do not continue to budget for things we simply can’t afford.  Opportunities exist to review ‘single source’ vendors, spending thresholds at departmental levels, certain existing costly bureaucratic Town-wide initiatives and programs and simply, other ‘routine expenditures’ that need to be meticulously reviewed.

Rights & Freedoms We Take for Granted

It was saddened yesterday to discover some newcomers to Ajax live in fear of offending municipal authorities and are completely unaware of their rights and privileges as Canadians.

To wit: An election sign was removed unilaterally by an overzealous bylaw enforcement officer from the lawn of one my supporters. She called me and asked to have the sign replaced. I asked why she didn’t call Town Hall to have it returned. She said she didn’t want to get into trouble or create a situation with authorities.

Later, a similar situation arose where one of my opponents - or someone on his/her behalf - had placed a campaign sign on the lawn of one of my supporters. Through an interpreter, I learned that the homeowner was fearful of drawing attention to themselves from municipal officials and decided not to call Town authorities.

I reminded the homeowners this is Canada.  We do not have an authoritarian regime in power and that we have a constitution that protects their rights from governmental abuse of power.  We also have freedom of speech & expression and are protected by the Charter of Rights.

Those rights that we as Canadians take for granted are ‘virgin territory’ for some newcomers.  The Town of Ajax provides services for newcomers in partnership with the Region through the Community Development Council Durham (CDCD).

CDCD can be reached by telephone at 905-686-2661 and is located at

138 Commercial Avenue, Ajax, ON L1S 2H5

.

If you know someone who is unfamiliar with their rights and privileges and has recently settled in Ajax, I would urge you to direct them to the CDCD to provide them with information that might bring some comfort and relief.

Canada, and Ajax, in particular, are thriving examples of a living democracy. No one need live in fear of government in our community.

Into the Home Stretch

Hoping Ward 1 and all Ajax residents enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving long weekend.

It was interesting speaking with electors during the last several days, discussing issues and promoting my candidacy. I like canvassing. And in particular, enjoy those discussions leading ultimately, to a decision to support of my candidacy.

With just under two weeks left until polling day, my aim, clearly, is to offer up a choice to voters by making a convincing case based on:

• Real experience in the working world that includes the financial management of public funds; project management and due diligence; costing out and contracting based upon those principles of value for taxpayers’ money and accountability.

• Communicating complex proposals and projects to simple terms.

• Finding, or creating solutions through consensus and negotiation.

• An understanding of municipal tax structures and public spending, and ultimately, the financial and social costs to families living in Ajax today.

I understand that some of my opponents take issue with my position to target a zero % tax increase. But I also understand the changing face of Ajax where more and more taxpayers are required to stretch their family budgets even further to meet their financial requirements.

Aiming for a zero percent tax increase doesn’t mean taxes will vanish. It means buying some time to take a long, hard look at the Town’s spending; holding the line on incurring more debt until we can find new sources of business tax revenue.

That said, small and medium-sized business are struggling too under the weight of local taxes, rising administrative costs, regulatory obligations and insurance costs.

It will be interesting this year to see the composition of the next Town Council. 

A possible look to the future?

For anyone who might have missed it, North American, European and Asian economies are swimming in a sea of debt. Even Ajax is in debt.

The minister of finance tells us the days of financial boom are over and we, as a nation, are going to be faced with, or forced to deal with this new reality. This includes Ajax.

What might this mean to Ajax? Here’s what we might expect:

• a focus on debt reduction
• spending cuts and possible civil service layoffs 
• municipal 'belt-tightning'

As federal spending diminishes, it trickles down eventually to squeeze funding from provincially-administered healthcare, social programs, housing and transportation programs among others.

Has anyone noticed a decline in the cost of food, medicine, gasoline, bank lending rates, GO passes, electricity and other utilities charges? I haven’t.

The rise in our property tax rate was set by the current council and remains at 2.75%. The Town is preparing to incur more debt, and, at the end of the day, little room is left to cut services any further if the current spending programs will remain.

If a  zero percent tax target is attainable, we need to take a long, hard, serious look at Ajax spending and dig a little deeper into the books to discover where we can achieve savings.

If our finance minister’s comments are a signal that austerity measures are in the works to reduce the debt, we as a Town, should be looking to the future to buffer ourselves from that trickle down pain that is surely coming our way.

Seeking a Mandate from Ward 1

The election process requires two things that a candidate gives voters. We need to give voters a reason for their votes.  In return, voters give their Councillor a mandate to represent their interests, even if it means challenging the Mayor’s position to protect and promote Ward 1 interests.

There are five candidates vying to represent Ward 1. Therefore, a selection of which candidate is best qualified to argue the case for Ward 1 residents on Town Council must come down to trust, financial leadership and the ability to represent the residents in THEIR best interests. 

At each Council meeting, the Councillor for Ward 1 has the same voting rights as the Mayor. The Mayor has one vote; Municipal and Ajax Regional Councillors each have one vote. The Mayor, of course, has the additional duties of leadership and serves as the Council’s director with Town Staff.

And after visiting nearly 3,000 homes to date, three issues dominate voters’ election agenda.

They are:

• Our Increasing taxation and value for money
• The urgent need to create local jobs to be closer to home and family
• The need for greater Council accountability and responsiveness to taxpayers

For the record, it is Town Council that electors charge as their supreme authority of our municipal government. Mayor Parish has one vote.

As a candidate, I’m asking Ward 1 residents to be their representative and spokesperson on Town Council with their direction to:

1. Enter a motion at Council to target a 0 % tax increase over the next four years!
2. Offer reasonable incentives to corporations looking to establish large, job-creating business centres in Ajax  with long-term benefits for the Town!
3. Scrutinize Council spending proposals with a view to eliminating additional burdens to Ward 1 taxpayers.
4. Find the resolve to say NO to Council proposals that defy common sense during these times of global and national economic decline, and;
5. Maintain an open line of communications with Ward 1 electors that is meaningful, honest and transparent in order to promote our community’s views and needs on Town Council.

If Ward 1 residents believe these five points constitute a mandate – a contract – between us, then I’m asking for your vote.

Our greatest assets in Ajax are our residents!

Thanks to all residents who fed me goodies this weekend. Your generosity was much appreciated. The curried goat, roti, pre-thanksgiving turkey, fresh brownies and hot tea were awesome. I door knocked about 1500 houses this weekend and that helped to walk off the calories.

But the content of today’s blog is also about hardship. Canvassing this weekend brought home the hard, cold realities of this enduring recession. Two homeowners I met Sunday - both had lost their jobs. They have little choice but to sell up and leave Ajax.

And along the way, I met a woman who told me point blank, she simply couldn’t afford the taxes on her property where the market value of her home had declined, but her tax bill had advanced by $2400 over the last four years.

Our greatest assets in Ajax are our residents! Residents have less money left in their pockets every week to support and feed their families. Although things look rosy on the outside of the street, inside our homes, our residents and having tougher times these days! Given the impending crush of a prolonged economic downtown, perhaps Town Council may need to reconsider its spending plans over the next four years.

I said Sunday that Ajax has been spending money like there is no recession. Perhaps its time we had a long, hard look at targeting a zero percent tax increase and at the same time, take a much more detailed discovery of where to find savings and trim fat where it exists without trimming necessary services.

The ‘red tape’ at the Town is securely in place and it costs us dearly every year – maybe, there’s a little too much red tape? Maybe, there are a few things we can do without?

Amazing Ward 1 Generosity!

Three weeks and two days from today Ajax votes.

It continues to amaze me how generous electors in Ward 1 have been to me during the last three weeks. I really want to thank all of you for your hospitality and the kindness you’ve shown me.

Saturday, for example, after 6 hours of door knocking, the offers of a bathroom and a cup of tea on a cool day were unexpected and wholly welcome.

And it’s those unexpected events along the way that provide those insights into people’s nature. Like the gentleman that was adamant he was he was not getting involved in the election, but after considering my vigorous rebuttal, not only agreed to vote,  but asked for a campaign sign for his lawn! Thank you sir!   

And it’s the unsolicited offers from church leaders of a venue to hold future community Town Hall meetings in Ward 1. 

And it’s witnessing first hand that a smile and a kind word can motivate people to help a less fortunate and unknown neighbour.

People of Ajax will always have their differences. That’s just natural. Those differences however, are the threads that bind us together as a community, and as a community of communities. And that’s where we’ll find solutions to present to the next Town Council.